


Friendly Advice by yours truly

by Traumatas



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Crushes, Friendship, M/M, Pining, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-19 07:52:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14869713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traumatas/pseuds/Traumatas
Summary: There weren't many people that Kei was willing to talk to when it came to his feelings. Be it positive of negativeThe top one was Yamaguchi, obviously, and somewhere on the very bottom of this list was Kuroo Tetsurou.And of course Kuroo had to be the one, who couldn't stop bothering about his crush.





	Friendly Advice by yours truly

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I have no excuse for uploading like two FFs every week.  
> I kinda just don't wanna waste my inspiration.
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm really bad at characterizing Kuroo and I'm so so sorry if he's off in any ways, I tried but it was also really late when I wrote this so please be kind with critique. ;w;

"Soooo", Kuroo started, an undertone in his voice that worried Kei more than he would ever admit. "Did you tell him yet?"  
  
They had been practicing blocks for a while now and had decided to take a short break after Bokuto and Akaashi had left to join their team, leaving the two of them alone.   
Kei had enjoyed the opportunity to catch his breath, as he was slowly reaching his limit of exhaustion for the day, but to his dismay Kuroo had decided to lean into the tallers space, closer than necessary, really,to throw an arm around his shoulder.   


"Tell who what?",Kei responded way too quickly, poorly concealing the fact that he knew exactly what Kuroo was implying and the fact that he wanted to avoid it at all costs making it worse  
Which, of course, was an open invitation for the other to immediately deepen the topic.   


”Oh come on, Tsukki.” his brow raises and his smile turning into a wide smirk, which freaked him out more than the teasing did. He knew exactly where this was going and he didn't like it one bit. He and Kuroo had known each other long enough, he was aware that nothing seemed to please the captain more than getting on his nerves whenever he had the chance and, at this point, there was no place for Kei to escape.

  
That didn't mean he was about to give up on keeping his pride just yet.   


"Don't ca-", he wanted to protest, but got cut off before he managed to argue any further.  


"Yeah, yeah don't call you Tsukki. I got it. Only your dear, precious _best friend_ is allowed to do that, isn't he?"   


The push on the shoulder Kei received from Kuroo came unexpected, but not totally unwelcome as it gave him a reason to avert his gaze.  
Deep down he knew it was foolish to think he could hide his reddened cheeks at the mention of Yamaguchi from the others sharp eyes, but he still tried, hoping luck was on his side for once in his life.   


Of course it wasn't.  


"What?" Kuroo said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Kei still didn’t dare to look at him again, deciding a lonely ball at the other side of the gym was more interesting than the others face. "Someone getting flustered?"  


There was only a beat of silence and before Kei even had the chance to answer or deny the accusation, Kuroo - very obviously fake - gasped, a hand pressed to his chest like he just heard the most scandalous news.

 

Kei mentally braced himself for what came next.  


"Could it be that Tsukishima has a _crush_ on his best friend?" The rhetorical question was followed by a loud laughter that made Kei cringe and feel like a total idiot. It wasn’t like he had seriously believed he could escape Kuroo’s teasing by playing dumb, but whenever the topic of his crush on Yamaguchi was even approached, he seemed to lose all ability to come up with clever comebacks.   


"Kuroo-san.", Kei tried instead, a warning tone in his voice, which successfully shut Kuroo up for once in his life. The olders smirk turned into a smaller smile as he picked up on the blondes discomfort quickly.   


After all: they had talked - well as much as Kuroo teasing and annoying him could be seen as 'talked' - about this before and without Kei ever outright standing up to it, it was obvious that Kuroo was aware on how hopelessly i _n love_ he was with Yamaguchi.

 

He still vividly remembered Kuroo telling him that it was painfully clear he was crushing because of the way Kei talked and behaved around Yamaguchi. Going into surprising detail about him seeming more relaxed and at peace once his best friend was close by.

  
Before that, Kei had always prided himself in being able to mask his feelings well when it came down to it, so it was a surprise that someone had figured him out that easily. It made him wonder if other people had noticed as well; if Sugawara, Daichi or - he didn't even want to consider it - Noya and Tanaka had caught up on him.   
They were on the same team after all and had enough time to notice how he looked at Yamaguchi; how he could barely hold back his smiles when the freckled teen spoke and how he allowed him to be closer than any other person would ever get to Kei.   
Physically and emotionally.   


The thought, that they could have figured it out, made Kei feel vulnerable and unprotected. He didn't like it one bit.  


With a snap of a pair of fingers in front of his face he was pulled back out of his thoughts, eyes moving up to look back at the third year next to him.  


"Hey no spacing out and dreaming about your beloved Freckles"  


Kei took the opportunity to glare at Kuroo, which only caused the older one to sigh. His face turned more serious and understanding after that and for the first time he pulled his eyes away from him, looking off into another direction. It was quite an odd look on his face, so different from what it had been just a second before, that Kei had to admit he was somewhat curious as to what he was going to say next.  


"But seriously, Tsukishima. I think you should tell him- and I know you hear this from me every time so don't even start to bring that up." There was a warning finger pointed at him. "Just know that, as obvious as you are; he is too. I mean I don't know him as well as you, but the way he looks at you makes it easy to guess that he likes you more than just as a best friend. You just don't notice it, that's all. Really, you should see how he looks at you when you play or talk.”   


Kei decided not to answer. Mainly because he didn’t know how to.There was another wave of blood rushing into his face at the thought of Yamaguchi watching him - and him specifically - during their games. Just considering the adoring look that his best friend wore when he was happy being directed towards him, made his heart leap.   
  
He really was in deep.   


"I just think you should go for it." Kuroo concluded with a nod, bringing him back to reality for the second time. He moved to look at Kei again, his head slightly tilted to the side as he awaited an answer or any kind of reaction from him.  


It was hard to swallow the lump in his throat and Kei was not all too comfortable with telling Kuroo about his feelings, but he figured silence wasn't an option anymore.   
Because if he didn’t answer him, the older would just continue to push, tease and try to give him more advice on his love life.   


"I-", Kei started, but stopped. Fuck he was bad at this. "I don't know."  


Yes. That would have to do for now.  
  
It only caused Kuroo to sigh once again, barely any of the teasing attitude left and it surprised Kei, that the older actually seemed interested in helping him out and not just took the opportunity for his own amusement.   


"I know you don't like to hear that, but: Trust me just this once. Just do something both of you are comfortable doing and tell him when you get the chance. From what I've gathered he doesn't seem like the type of person who would stop being your friend, even if he didn't reciprocate your feelings.", Kuroo said, an encouraging smile on his lips. Quickly he added: "Which he does. This boy is head over heels for you and your- your sarcasm, pessimistic life attitude and the way you're just so mean."  


Kei rolled his eyes. "Wow. Thank you."  


That made Kuroo mood shift from serious to amused, causing him to laugh. He stood up from the bench they were sitting on and proceeded to stretch a little, giving a nod towards Kei to signal him to stand up as well.  


"Listen. You got this. Just man up and ask him out, your constant pinning distracts you from blocking properly." The strong pat on the back made Kei nearly topple over, but didn't stop him from sending an offended glare towards the captain, who's familiar grin was back in place.  


"I'm not pining!", he grumbled, less efficiently as he hoped. Considering how easy it was to tell that he was, in fact, pining, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the older was having none of it.   


"Oh you totally are, Mr. Hopelessly in love." God sometimes Kei just wished Kuroo would shut up. “You should see your face right now. For always trying to be cool, you’re awfully red right now.”  
  
It was then he decided he had had enough of Kuroo’s teasing. He stood up straighter, emphasizing how he was a few centimeters taller.

  
“Well at least my crush actually gives me some attention.”   
  
He enjoyed the way Kuroo seemed to momentarily shut up, obviously taken aback by the sudden comment. There was a part of Kei that gave him a sense of accomplishment, knowing how he’d struck a nerve with the mere mention of Kuroo’s interest in Kenma, as it was the sort of payback the older one deserved.

  
“Hey! Is that the way you should be talking to your elders?”, Kuroo protested, once again crossing his arms and furrowing his eyebrows, trying his best to give of a sense of authority. Being used to Daichi, though, Kei was not impressed and just looked at him, a pleased smirk on his face.   
  
The older turned away from him with an offended sound and walked towards the gym exit, immediately changing the topic. His defensive reaction was worth noting for future reference.   
  
"Anyways. We should go back to our Teams now. I'm sure they miss our handsome faces at this point."   


"Probably.", Kei agreed, his smile fading into his usual unimpressed resting face and he took a few long strides to catch up with Kuroo.   


They stepped out in the cold air of the night and looking up in the sky, Kei noted how late it had gotten. He looked at the other and nodded, wishing him a good night, before they parted ways to join their teams in the according rooms.

 

\-----------

 

Kei opened the door, as quietly as possible. He did his best to not draw too much attention to himself as he entered the room and tried to look as nonchalant as he could, hoping the pink tone on his cheeks had faded already.  


"Oh Tsukishima!", Sugawara said, a happy smile on his face as he saw him. "We were wondering when you'd come back. You guys took longer than usual."  


"Yeah we did.", Kei answered, moving over the sleeping form of Hinata, who was covering more of the floor than his own futon. "Kuroo-San and Bokuto-San couldn’t stay concentrated. It was horrible."  


"Of course they couldn’t.", Daichi sighed and shook his head. "Since you’re back now though, we should all change and go to sleep"  


"But Dai-"  


"Tanaka, no. Get changed."  


"Oh common, Daichi!"  
  
“Suga, please-”   


Kei rolled his eyes and decided to stop paying attention to his captain and vice captain arguing about if they should stay up just a little longer or not, knowing Daichi would give in to Suga eventually. He always did.  
  
Once he reached his own futon, after nearly stepping on the several already sleeping team members, Kei could feel a wave of exhaustion crash down on him. The extensive training and the time of day finally catching up to him. He really needed some sleep.

 

As he reached for his bag to pull out his pyjamas, he dared to throw a glance at Yamaguchi, who had his own things propped up right next to the blondes. He was already fast asleep and Kei wondered how he was even able to sleep with the more or less quiet arguing in the background.   
Yamaguchi had his arms wrapped tightly around his pillow, pushing his face into it. He looked relaxed in his sleep, lips slightly parted and hair mussed from turning, making it even messier than usual. There was a small path of drool slipping down his chin and one of his legs was sticking out of his blanket.

He looked adorable and Kei wanted nothing more than to join him and wrap his arms around his waist, pulling him close to spoon.  


Shaking his head, he pulled his gaze away, eyes probably having lingered onto his best friends sleeping face for longer than it was normal and Kei wondered if Kuroo was right about how obvious he really was.

Wasting no time, he changed and slipped under his own comforter, cheeks red once again as he recalled the image of Yamaguchi’s sleeping face.   
He didn’t want to admit it, but maybe Kuroo had been right. He and Yamaguchi had known each other for years now, and he couldn’t imagine that something like his crush could ruin their friendship, no matter how anxious he felt about it.   


_Maybe,_ Kei thought, biting his lip, nervous from the thought alone, _I should really tell him_

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: First I planned to put a pinch of Bokuroo in there, but then it turned into KurooKen oh well.
> 
> I think I need a small break from writing.  
> This was a lot. I think Ao3 needs a break from me and I need a break from Ao3
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated as always ♥


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